GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday March 3, 2015
DECONSTRUCTING THE OPPOSITION’S AGENDA
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Part 2
By Teayken A. Dhigg
Offerings of emptiness IF THE previous instalment were to be perused, it would not be challenging to conclude that the current Opposition is wallowing in “no” politics. This of course is derived from their adamant, (arrogant seems more apt), and inflexible position of plating a resounding “NO” to the many visionary and transformative projects tabled in the 10th Parliament. This precipitated high levels of uncertainty and some amount of stagnation within the business community. This, given the actions of the Opposition during that period, can only be viewed as their desired result, again, the politics of “no”; no progress; at least the intention. Clearly the ruling PPP/C Administration never contemplated allowing the Opposition to derail the strides achieved under its watch. This approach mitigated the Opposition’s actions through a track record of nine years of unprecedented and continuous economic growth. Simply put, the Opposition’s agenda is to regress progress which would result in economic ruin; something to which they are extremely comfortable with. A brief perusal of the nation’s history during their tenure would reveal a profound state of bankruptcy, despondency with the collapse of the social and physical infrastructure. This
has how been deemed an old cliché which the Opposition wishes to be erased from those with authentic memories. Unfortunately for them, those memories remain fresh. This desire to try and erase memories is what engineered the changing of a name, from PNC to APNU, with the hope that the absence of the Palm Tree symbol would not bring to bear any physiological disadvantage to some voters. This was targeted at the youth with the optimism that those who endured the PNC’s dictatorship would just forget. Clearly, that needs no justification to be classified as wishful thinking. After having the country descend into economic ruin following some three decades of misrule, part of the Opposition’s agenda is to hoodwink into making people believe that they are the bastions of transparency, democracy and a proven authority on economic management. Their expectation would be for the concealment of the history during their domination in office, but if there were any doubts, their actions over the last three years served to expose, and enlighten and re-enlighten. Getting back to the Opposition’s actual agenda, one notion is that their non-support for the transformative projects is hinged on their belief that related successes
would further vindicate the visionary aptitude of the PPP/C Government. This, they believe, would be detrimental to their chances since they would be unable to convince their supporters that the PPP/C is incapable. For some, this approach may sound a bit ludicrous, but in reality, it’s far from so, for nothing is beyond this Opposition. If one harboured any doubts in this regard, then try rationalising the Opposition’s action of scuttling the transformative projects. Some old questions swiftly resurface in this regard; why would a Party that claims to have the well-being of the nation and its people at heart, would work assiduously to deny them benefits like cheaper and reliable electricity supply, access to modern and specialised healthcare and having the country becoming a major hub for international travel? Logically, there could not be any rationalisation in that regard. However, any attempt would reveal unequivocally, the Opposition’s seemingly diabolic agenda which is encrusted with political partisanship. Simply put, it’s an agenda of emptiness that brings doom to a now prosperous nation. This, unfortunately, has become another local cliché.
MMU begins monitoring of mainstream media
GECOM Chairman, Dr. Steve Surujbally (sitting) and staff of the MMU at a recent workshop (Vishwanauth Narine photo)
T H E M e d i a M o n i t o ring Unit (MMU) at the Guyana Election’s Commission (GECOM) has commenced its review of content made public by the mainstream media, print and broadcast, as well as selected online media, as of March 1.
“This comes after staff of the Unit completed a rigorous five-day Media Code of Conduct familiarisation exercise, during which they were given expert guidance in understanding, interpreting, and implementing the 2015 Elections Media Code of
Conduct,” a statement from GECOM said. The MMU is expected to produce its first report for March in the first or second week of April. The analyses in the reports to be produced by the MMU will primarily be aimed at providing
a complete picture regarding the level of journalistic professionalism employed by all media operatives; the access granted by media owners/ managers/editors to candidates and/or political parties in the mass media; whether the coverage pro-
vided by media houses is fair and balanced; the tone of media coverage towards candidates and political parties; and whether the electorate is gaining diverse, comprehensive and impartial information from all media in order to make an informed choice
on Election Day. The findings of the MMU reports are also expected to be in line with the recently signed Elections Media Code of Conduct. Th e U nit is h ead ed by Project Manager, Ms. Lavern Pinto.